High-achieving at UWM isn’t about believing you can do anything. It’s about proving it. It's an experience that puts you in control of the learning you want to do, the degrees you pursue, the languages you study.

You’ll have the support of our 1,600 faculty and instructors, academic advisors, personal mentors and more to help you every step of the way – freshman testing to graduation day. With a full menu of academic, leadership, service and internship opportunities available to our best students, be a high achiever in the laboratory, the library or the boardroom.

Awards and Scholarships

Why not be in total control of your college finances while you’re at UWM? High-achieving students are eligible for merit and needs-based scholarships – including full-ride scholarships only for high achievers. We have tuition-discount agreements with eight states, and nearly 80 percent of our students receive $280 million in financial aid annually.

Get Involved!

Strong relationships promote strong academics. High achieving students are invited to join UWM chapters of national honors societies. Service learning and leadership opportunities connect what students learn in class to community-building and community-networking organizations, think-tanks and projects, more than 300 student organizations, and more than a dozen honors societies

Honors College

The benefits of a small, private college combine with the alumni network, research capabilities and academic diversity of a major urban university in the UWM Honors College. Benefits of joining the Honors College include intensive, engaging classes of 15 led by our best faculty, focused on big ideas, located in our dedicated, spacious, inspiring Honors House; priority registration for classes every semester; dedicated Honors College faculty, academic advisors and program support for individualized career-planning or grad-school preparation; research, thesis, study abroad and project-based learning opportunities available to Honors College students in 100+ majors. All applicants to UWM will be automatically considered for admission to the Honors College based on a holistic review of their application materials.

Living & Learning

Friends help friends do better in college. More than 25 UWM Living Learning Communities (LLCs) bring together freshmen as part of a community-within-a-community where students share academic interests, a University Housing address, classes and professors – and plenty of opportunities to explore Milwaukee, the UWM social scene, career connections and more.

Three LLCs are Global Village communities. One enrolls Honors College students only. Innovation House is for computer science and engineering majors. One is just for up and coming rock stars. Another takes undeclared students through the process of exploring and declaring a major.

Undergraduate Research

Research alongside a top professor, conduct international field research, present your work at major conferences. Begin your research as early as the summer before freshman year. Build on your research experience and faculty mentorship for better academic and career preparation every year of undergrad – culminating in placement in prestigious graduate programs worldwide, or right here at UWM.

Career Guidance

Advanced Education Meets Career Preparation. Blending the benefits of our high achieving opportunities with the internship and career connections of Wisconsin’s largest job market is an only-at-UWM opportunity. Six Fortune 500 companies make Milwaukee a hub for finance, sustainability, advanced manufacturing and water-related industries. Thousands more firms, corporations and nonprofits make Milwaukee the place to base your studies and begin your career. Southeastern Wisconsin’s biggest alumni network is made up of UWM alumni. They want to meet you!

Career Development Center

The Career Development Center is a free-for-you resource that offers the latest employer partnerships and essential career decision-making and job-search support at every level, in any major.

Seminar-style classes in the Lubar Business Scholars program feature research- and application-oriented classes of 30 or fewer students working closely with Business School faculty. Because of the small class sizes and accelerated coursework, the Scholars Program incorporates many opportunities for interaction with the Milwaukee-area business community. Several social and educational events are scheduled each academic year. High-achieving Lubar students in every major are admitted into the program beginning sophomore year.

International Opportunities

At the university, we don’t keep our best students to ourselves. We share them with and prepare them for the world.

Language Resource Center and World Languages

More than 20 world languages are taught here. Language lunches, organizations and international film festivals at UWM supplement course-based instruction. Visit the Language Resource Center for the latest in pedagogy, technology and support services to strengthen your multilingual studies.

Our comprehensive, international education offices send more than 600 UWM students abroad every semester – 170+ destinations – and host international experts on timely topics and timeless international issues during campus-wide events. The center also enrolls more than 1,000 international students yearly.

One semester abroad, one international internship, three core classes, five interdisciplinary tracks to choose from and eight semesters of foreign language make this one of the first and most rigorous global-studies undergraduate programs in the U.S. Global Studies majors build a resume and GPA that combines a strong liberal arts education with the benefits of pre-professional training.